Sherlock Holmes 2010? YES PLZ!

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It hasn’t been all that long since Guy Ritchie gave us RDJ and Jude Law’s amusing old-married-couple shtick in his own take on Sherlock Holmes. Expected to be unimpressed, but it really wasn’t bad. Still, after watching this clip of the all-new, modern-day-set BBC miniseries Sherlock… uh-oh. Methinks Guy is about to be PWNED by the Big British Castle:

Where do I start with the squee?! That’s Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes, who if you watch a lot of UK films you probably already know is one of the best unsung actors the country’s produced in the last few years. He’s fantastic. Obviously that’s the great Martin Freeman as Watson, which is inspired casting in about 20 different ways. We’ve got Rupert Graves, who though he’s gone completely gray still manages to look 25, as Inspector Lestrade. Yes, it’s a period-piece gone modern, which is often a tricky proposition … but this one is brought to you courtesy of Doctor Who‘s current chieftain Steven Moffat and one of DW‘s stalwart scribes (and ex-League of Gentlemen member) Mark Gatiss. Surely it’s elementary that this could not possibly suck in the slightest.

The UK gets the first of three 90-minute installments of Sherlock this weekend; supposedly, Masterpiece Theatre will pick it up in the States eventually, though no date has been announced yet. Make it snappy, PBS, or we’ll reconsider the next pledge drive donation. (That I’m totally planning to send when I’m not broke anymore. I know, the IOU stack is getting thick…)

UPDATE (8/4): PBS announced today that Sherlock will air Stateside on Oct. 24, Oct. 31 and Nov. 7. (check listings), not in 2011 as originally rumored. Deets here! I will now delude myself for another few minutes that my pledge donation blackmail had something to do with this development.

Comments

OMG I just saw this and frigging LOVED it. I’m now weeping that I’m going back home tomorrow and won’t get to see the next one until BBCA can finally be arsed to show it. Fingers crossed for sooner, not later.

AND…the worst thing about BBCA is that the shows you see on BBCA are NOT the full show that the UK gets to see on BBC. Hooray for US commercials.

I hadn’t really realized this til I watched the UK version of the first matt Smith Dr Who and then saw the BBCA broadcast a few days later. Nothing crucial to the plot was eliminated, but a couple of fun moments were. At that point, I pretty much decided not to watch it on BBCA ever again. And, the same will go for Sherlock.

This does look interesting to be sure, but I have to say I thought Ritchie’s flick was much better than “wasn’t bad”. I’ve watched it a few times, and I hope there is a sequel. It is gonna suck waiting to see this show up in The States.

There are only a few reasons why I would give up American citizenship and ship out to the UK.
1: to marry Colin Firth
2: to get better seats at Wimbledon
and/or
3: so I could watch the amazing BBC shows in real-time, like Doctor Who and soon to be this ridiculously good looking show, Sherlock!!…instead of scrounging online or waiting the torturous two weeks for BBC America broadcast.

They got both Benedict Cumberbatch *and* Martin Freeman to play Holmes? That is inspired casting!

All joshing aside, this does look like fun. Before seeing this, I wouldn’t have thought modernizing Holmes would be the way to go… after seeing this, it seems like the only way to go. Way to bring it, Beeb! (I’m 41 years old. Am I allowed to say “way to bring it”?)

If you want even more proof of this being awesome, check out Moffat’s other miniseries: Jekyll. He takes the classic story and modernizes it as well. I just finished part 3 of 6 last night on Netflix Instant and I’m blown away by how brilliant it is.